From Banchory take the B974 Strachan road. Take a hairpin right a few hundred meters after the bridge over the river Dee. Scolty Forest carpark is signposted from there.

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Description:-

Scolty hill is a very popular destination for walkers in and around Banchory. Sitting just outside the town, it is a very quick and easy way for people to get out on a hill without travelling too far. Scolty is a fantastic destination for Mountain Biking though. There are lots of trails (all natural) throughout Blackhall Forest (which includes ‘Hill of Goauch’ and ‘Scolty Hill’ itself). Several of the trails up Scolty Hill are marked as not suitable for bikes. This is so that these constructed paths don’t get eroded by bike tyres, and so that it is less likely you’ll encounter walkers while storming down the hill. Fortunately this is not a problem as there are several routes which ARE suitable for bikes, and they range from ‘Easy’ to ‘Very Hard’ from a technical grading perspective (you can use the ‘Easy’ one to cycle up the hill).

The trails elsewhere in the forest are mainly of an XC natural trail type nature, but the more technically challenging options off Scotly hill are basically ‘Downhill’ tracks. There are multiple routes down the east side of Scolty hill, but most of them have some pretty severe gradients and some very severe drops and jumps etc. You can have lots of fun getting down it on an ‘all mountain’ bike, but if you intend to thrash over all the jumps and drops, you’re going to want to use a ‘Downhill’ bike and a full-face helmet.

This version includes the run down to the ‘Shooting Greens’ which is a great little descent, but this can easily be missed out in order to shorten the route.

The trail starts out with a very short descent section between Tag1 and Tag2. This section starts out smooth and flat, then has a slight gradient and gets rooty and rocky. This is an ‘Moderate’ to ‘Easy’ section, but there are some rocks which form natural jumps if you fancy popping off them on the way down.

Then comes the boring fireroad climb up to Tag3. This climb is not really very steep at any point, but it does go on for quite a while.

From Tag3 to Tag4 the trail starts out as a ‘through the trees’ forest floor mulch (or mud on a wet day) section with loads of roots over a flat and quite pedally section. Then after passing over a fallen tree and coming out onto a more exposed section of hillside there is a descent down a very narrow single track rut.

From Tag5 all the way to Tag8 is another long decent, with crossings over fireroads at Tags 6 and 7. This is a very open fast decent. Some of it is on rough stoney paths, most of it is on a relatively shallow gradient, but you can carry your speed all the way down. Not too much mud until you get to the very bottom section between Tag7 and Tag8, and technically it is mostly ‘Easy’ and ‘Moderate’ in places.

From Tag8 to Tag9 is just a spin over some gently climbing fireroad to get to the ‘Shooting Greens’ forestry carpark.

From Tag9 to Tag10 is a nice interesting gentle singletrack climb over a natural rooty open forest section.

From Tag10 to Tag11 is an interesting and challenging climb over some seriously rooty roots. It is great fun (i.e. much faster and easier) in the opposite direction, but in this direction it is a challenge to clean this section without any dabs. Nothing too steep, it is just VERY rooty.

Tag11 to Tag12 is another fireroad climb.

Tag 12 to Tag13 is a pedally XC section through the trees. Forest floor mulch (so can be quite muddy), roots, and the occasional fallen tree (complete with stones to allow you to ride right on over). There are a couple of sudden steep technical climbs along this section (both rideable… just).

Between Tag13 and Tag14 is what some people refer to as the ‘Dike’ descent. This is a lovely technical tight twisty decent, with several jumps and drops etc. It’s steep in places and goes through the trees along the edge of a stone dike. Several of the obstacles on the way down here are ‘Hard’ or ‘Very Hard’ so be warned.

From Tag14 to Tag15 is a gentle climb on singletrack.

The final climb up Scolty Hill itself starts at Tag15. This is quite steep (particularly at the very start) but is rideable. The rough firetrack soon gives way to a wide rough singletrack all the way to the top.

The ‘Downhill’ tracks all start at Tag16. There are multiple ways down the hill from here (most of them are of a ‘Downhill Track’ type nature). This is definitely in the ‘Hard’ grading. Big rocks, exposed and washed-out trail, complete with drops and steep sections. This top section between Tag16 and 17 is all entirely rollable, but there are lots of ‘wheel stoppers’.

At Tag17 there are multiple options for continuing down, the option drawn on this trail goes past a massive 8ft drop. Unless you have a downhill bike, a full-face helmet and the skills, probably best to take the chicken run. The chicken run itself is actually in the ‘Hard’ category. From there down to Tag18 there are a selection of drops, jumps, berms, etc. See the ‘Downhill Track’ route listed separately for more info.

From Tag18 to Tag19 is a short fireroad, and then it’s the last singletrack of the day over a jump through some rocky stuff and round the path back to the carpark.

Add comment and/or rate trail: Neep Route

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Downhill Track

This is just one of the many options there are for ‘Downhill Tracks’ off the East side of Scolty Hill. They all have at least some sections in the ‘Hard’ or ‘Very Hard’ technical grading.

This particular route starts with the exposed rocky stuff above the tree-line, and then goes down past the 8ft drop. This drop is a natural rock formation which has had a transition built up at the bottom of it for landing. Unless you have a downhill bike, a full-face helmet and the skills, probably best to take the chicken run. The chicken run itself is actually in the ‘Hard’ category so there’s not really an easy option here.

Then there is a series of jumps drops and berms all embedded in a steep fast sweeping downhill course. Some of the jumps are easier (i.e. smaller) than others, and most can be bypassed if you don’t fancy them. Be warned that there is a section right at the end where the gradient is so steep that you just can’t stop. The only way down is to control your speed by feathering the breaks. Lack of confidence or technical ability here will make you crash. Definitely a ‘Very Hard’.

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This is a fantastic trail. Even better if you add in a run up Scolty Hill again at the end to do the downhill track ;-)
Scolty is probably my fav MTB venue in the north east at the moment. Just... read whole comment...

The trail starts out with a very short descent section and a short fireroad link to Tag1. This section starts out smooth and flat, then has a slight gradient and gets rooty and rocky. This is a ‘Moderate’ to ‘Easy’ section, but there are some rocks which form natural jumps if you fancy popping off them on the way down.

From Tag1 to Tag2 is a fireroad climb which becomes wide rooty singletrack by the time you get to Tag2.

Then you climb up Scolty hill on the wide walkers path. The last part of this section is quite steep but is rideable.

At Tag3 you turn right and go over an open piece of countryside with a grassy surface punctuated by lots of little boulders. This gets steeper towards the end, where after a short climb upto the trees, you cross over a wall, and enter the forest.

Tag4 is at the top of the Hill of Goauch, and is the start of ‘The NEW Downhill’ ((Note: Need a name for this section. Any Ideas??? )). This is a long grassy mulchy descent through the forest. It is mostly quite fast, but is technically ‘Hard’ and ‘Very Hard’ in places just because of the gradient.

From Tag5 you take the fireroad up to do the XC section through the forest and the Downhill section to Tag6 (see the description of this in the ‘Neep Route’ trail).

Rather than cutting across to go back up Scolty as per the ‘Neep Route’ Trail. This route goes down another new (as of May 2011) piece of trail at Tag6. This is a ‘Moderate’ level of technical difficulty, and has enough gradient to keep you moveing, but nothing too difficult. It’s forest floor mulch again, with lots of little ramps over fallen trees.

Then it’s a fireroad back up to Tag7, where you do a short singletrack back onto the track you started on at the beginning of the ride.

Add comment and/or rate trail: Neep Route 2

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Scolty Summit Trail

Start with a downhill section before turning uphill and continueing to Scolty Hill Summit. Descend as far as the path on the left that leads round to a fireroad. Descend on this fireroad untill you turn right back to the car park.

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Scolty circuit 1

Cycle through forest roads, boggy areas of forest, climb up and descend onto the south side of the hill then make your way to the scolty tower. The descending down a trail with some technical rocky areas and steps. Returning to the car park.

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